The country’s pretty quiet this time of year, so there’s no real news to talk about. So, instead I focus on updates to what I’ve been up to since my last episode. The old year ended ickily, the new one began quietly.

I’ve also been making more YouTube videos—three so far this year! At the end of this episode, I play the audio from my latest video as a kind of experiment: I was thinking that in the future I could release the audio of these videos as special podcast episodes (I’ll talk more about that in the months to come). Let me know if you have strong feelings about this idea. I notice that the music track is a lot louder than it is in the video. Weird.

Also, if there’s anything about New Zealand (or me…) you’d like to know more about, let me know in the comments. It doesn’t matter if it’s an audio or video thing—I have multiple platforms now.

First up today, the results of New Zealand’s first flag referendum. Then, an update to a story from last time about John Key. More evidence the incident did Key no harm. We had some stuff to deal with, but got to see the new Star Wars before most people we know.

This episode follows up on a few things from the previous two episodes, starting with talking about New Zealand’s flag referenda. I explain how we got to this point, and what happens now. Voting in the first referendum ends on Friday. A few other stories in the NZ news round out this episode. I hope to do a few more episodes over the next couple of weeks, as I’ll definitely be busy over the holidays.

This episode is a bit of a catch-up—except that I mainly skip over the updates (you can ask in the comments about anything you want an update on). My first main topic is the controversy, reported internationally, when women MPs were expelled from a session of Parliament when they shared their personal stories of sexual assault, arising from NZ’s gutless prime minister, John Key, saying outrageous—and outrageously offensive—things in Parliament.

When I move on to personal topics, it’s the story of the recent medical challenges of our furbaby Sunny, and also why I talked about it at all.

A few other minor things round out this episode, and possibly set the stage for future episodes. And, yes, there will be future episodes. Sooner or later.

Earlier this week, I was in Takapuna for awhile, so I went and visited the beach there, which is the subject of my latest brief YouTube video. I haven’t been there in awhile, so it was nice to stop by.

Being winter, it was a little cooler than I would have liked, but the beach was still quite busy, anyway. The clouds were moving pretty quickly, so an area of beach that was in full sun one moment could be in shade the next. I didn’t realise that was happening until I edited the video.

I’ll let you in on a secret: At one point in the video I have a title that says it’s looking toward the Pacific. The truth is, on the eastern side of Auckland’s North Shore (where Takapuna is), everywhere one looks toward the east is looking toward the Pacific, though there may be islands in the way.

I used that phrase to give some sort of geographic orientation to foreigners, and so they’d know what ocean they were looking at. But that part of the North Shore isn’t really directly open to the ocean (because of islands). So, the label I added is a little misleading: It’s true, but probably not quite in the way some viewers will take it.

It was one of those times when simplicity was better than strict accuracy, something I’ve run into before when I’ve made these videos. Actually, I’ve learned a lot of things since I started making them. I’m sure that as I continue to learn more, and as I get more confident, I’ll make longer videos.

At any rate, making the videos has been fun. And, it’s always nice to have an excuse to visit favourite places.

This is another crosspost with AmeriNZ Blog, something I wanted to share here, too, because it gives some behind-the-scenes information about the video.